"I'm... fine.
"You don't sound fine.
Because my d!ck is hard enough to hammer nails. All I want to do is sink to the floor and bury myself deep in you."

And that is pretty much what you get with the fourth book in the series. Lots of restraining himself from the male lead and lots of not running away but actually goading him from the female lead.

The main couple consists of:

Wilson, the resident joker of the I-Ops and a wererat. He is the reason I am giving this book half a star more than the third book. Wilson is much more fleshed out as a character and I felt extremely bad for him in the previous books because honestly no one deserves constant bashing like he got. He got captured and was imprisoned in some facility where he is being tortured and experimented on. The I-Ops practically gave up on him (I bet they wouldn't have given up that quickly if any of the other guys went missing but okay, whatever) and if not for the three hormonal ladies that insisted on still searching they might not have found him in the end, which might also have been for the best when I think about it because they were much safer before they were discovered (but I do not wish to get into spoilers, just saying poor Kim).

One more thing that really annoyed me was what has been done with Wilson's character or rather hasn't been done is the shifting itself. All other male leads have shifted or partially shifted in front of their mates. For heaven's sake, even Lance who had minimal time in the first book shifted while banging Melanie. But Wilson doesn't shift in this book, nope, because Wilson is a rat so it might not be a pleasant thought for the readers or something. I, on the other hand, think that is discriminatory and wish it would have been done. Wilson is just as much of a shifter and a good guy as the rest but the author keeps putting him down. It is really aggravating.

And Kimberly or Kim, some sort of Fae. She is a grad student apparently researching some indigenous plants in the rainforest and gets captured by her professor and gets locked up in the same facility as Wilson. She is as well being experimented on and ends up in Wilson's cell. He protects her, she protects him and that's how the story plays out. Her character isn't really that fleshed out as Wilson's but it also isn't all that confusing like Melinda's from the previous book. I do have a thing I am not fully clear on and that is her powers. Kim is at least part Fae and she knows she has strong powers but in several instances she is afraid of using them not to hurt Wilson which didn't sit well with me. It wasn't really explained on why that would happen and if she ever had any previous bad experiences. It was just a plot device to keep them imprisoned for a longer period of time.

Wilson and Kim as a couple work better than I would have thought. Kim actually questions this instant love mate thing and wonders how can she marry someone she only knows for a number of days. Which is definitely a valid point with all of them. They have a good enough chemistry and I wasn't as annoyed this book around because Wilson was the main character.

The problems I have with this book and consequently with the entire series is just the basic premise it seems. In the first and second book it was okay because it was when I encountered it first so it didn't bother me but now it is starting to get on my nerves.

Formula goes:

Female in trouble, male come rescue this woman that we pretend is strong but is nothing without your sexy abs and now we are immediately married because mate means it is fated and you cannot choose whom you love and yeah, bam, instant pregnancy as well.

All heroines are now pregnant, they have all moved in with their well, husbands as it stands, despite knowing them for a couple of days before doing the rest. Like I said, it was fine in book 1 and book 2 but the exact same thing has been repeated now in 4 books in a row without any deviation and I feel like I have read one book four times over.

I will not continue with this series because it seems it has no variety to offer. Female in danger, male saves, insta love, boom baby here, move on to the next couple. Do all female leads have to immediately get pregnant? If the sperm is that potent from all the shifters, how many kids will they have until they die of exhaustion of having too many kids? It's just... a bit too much for my taste.

If you like reading the exact same thing over and over knowing exactly what will happen next, be my guest, there are plenty left but I know when to start something different.

This book came to me just when I needed it. There's a lot about story telling and about the stories we make up in our heads about a situation before (or instead of) finding the real truth. I appreciated the in-depth look at that part of our interactions. I especially loved the use of a single story to illustrate how things go rather than using several stories and showing the progression of the situation as her understanding of the situation evolved.

I LOVED that you can't skip day 2. It's something I needed a reminder of in my own writing. It's also a good reminder in general of dealing with life and things. I was totally jealous of the visit to PIxar.

I LOVED the whole section takes a long look at the idea of whether or not people are doing the best they can. Note: the biggest difference between people who believe that and those who don't is perfectionism.

I LOVED the look at her social work class and intersectional biases and privileges. It made my feminist heart flutter. 

I found the following question interesting: What has to end or die so that we can experience a rebirth in our relationships? 

Overall, I loved this book as much as the last two. I think it would be a valuable book to read for anyone in a leadership or managerial position as well as all parents. Even new couples and old married couples could probably learn something about their interactions using the tools here. But you have to want it, you have to be willing to be vulnerable, to stand in the arena. I know people who spend so much time and energy protecting themselves that they'd never understand the points made here, and that's okay. I hope they find their own ways. No one solution works for everyone but this is definitely worth the try. 

I also appreciated that it reviews key points of Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead and The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. 

The work of Brene Brown has been inspiring me since I first listened to her TEDtalks. I read Daring Greatly back in December and loved it too. Suffice it to say, that I knew I was in for good things when I opened this book and I was not disappointed.

In The Gifts of Imperfection, Dr. Brown presents us with the reasons it's important to let go of what the world tells us. She reminds us that trying to be everything to everyone in the world is not the way to be our best selves. For me, the reminder is welcome. I feel like I need to read or re-read one of her books every six months just so I don't lose hold of the encouragement to do the hard parts. Be vulnerable, put my creativity out there, set boundaries. Those are the hard ones for me. 

In this book, she offers 10 Guideposts to help the reader DIG deep (Deliberate, Inspire, Get going) and get to Wholehearted living. The book is listed as a self-help book and she addresses that a few times. They're guideposts, not how-to's. Different things will work for different people. It's not as cut and dry as some self-help books I've seen where simply getting 8 hours of sleep will make you more productive and live longer. Wholehearted living is more complicated than that. She's not going to trim it down for the reader and take away the authenticity of the message. It's one of the things I love about her. 

As an ardent feminist, letting go of what everyone says you should be and becoming the real you are concepts that I'm faced with a lot. It's uncomfortable to have to tell people about all the girl things I don't like or the feminine things I won't do. They aren't authentic to me. It's hard to defend the choices of others who are simply trying to be their authentic selves, but it's something I try to do. It's part of being an out feminist. It's another part of the me I have to embrace. It's a harder part of it because of all the negativity that people like to throw about women simply wanting to be treated as equals. It can be just as uncomfortable to talk to people about faith, specifically your own. And again, as a feminist, because some people think the beliefs of feminism and Christ are mutually exclusive. I've never thought that. 

Both want us to remember the gifts of imperfection and lean into our true selves. This was one of those times that I got a book at just the right time in my life because I needed the reminder on all fronts. 

Everyone should read this because everyone struggles with who they're supposed to be. It would be great if we could just start being who we are. 

I read this book recently, after reading Pearce's other offerings, A Bird Without Wings and For Those Who Wait. And I've enjoyed The Value of Vulnerability more, not just because the prose has matured, but also the subject matter.
I'm not a regular Romance reader, so with A Bird Without Wings and For Those Who Wait, I regularly had problems suspending my disbelief. Not because Pearce is a bad writer, far from it, but because the romantic worldview permeating most Romance novels is distinctly alien to my own experiences in the matter.
The power in The Value of Vulnerability lies in the subtle shift towards more mature characters. Not the characters in the other books were immature or even adolescent, but there was a sense that the characters were at the cusp of adulthood, rather than jaded by their adult experiences.
In The Value of Vulnerability, the main characters are Ford Howard and Erin Russell. Ford is a sociopathic womanizer who abandons more women than a sniffler throws out tissues. Erin is a single IT specialist who presents a welcome challenge for Ford, who is used to dating vapid women who rarely warrant more than an evening's attention.
The brief courtship that ensues, surprises them both in its intensity and as quick as they connected, they spiral apart, each confounded by their feelings for each other.
Then disaster strikes...
I'm not going to give away more of the plot, except that I was enthralled by the story and characters, and genuinely moved by the dramatic developments. An accomplishment worth five stars.

I read this book recently, after reading Pearce's other offerings, A Bird Without Wings and For Those Who Wait. And I've enjoyed The Value of Vulnerability more, not just because the prose has matured, but also the subject matter.
I'm not a regular Romance reader, so with A Bird Without Wings and For Those Who Wait, I regularly had problems suspending my disbelief. Not because Pearce is a bad writer, far from it, but because the romantic worldview permeating most Romance novels is distinctly alien to my own experiences in the matter.
The power in The Value of Vulnerability lies in the subtle shift towards more mature characters. Not the characters in the other books were immature or even adolescent, but there was a sense that the characters were at the cusp of adulthood, rather than jaded by their adult experiences.
In The Value of Vulnerability, the main characters are Ford Howard and Erin Russell. Ford is a sociopathic womanizer who abandons more women than a sniffler throws out tissues. Erin is a single IT specialist who presents a welcome challenge for Ford, who is used to dating vapid women who rarely warrant more than an evening's attention.
The brief courtship that ensues, surprises them both in its intensity and as quick as they connected, they spiral apart, each confounded by their feelings for each other.
Then disaster strikes...
I'm not going to give away more of the plot, except that I was enthralled by the story and characters, and genuinely moved by the dramatic developments. An accomplishment worth five stars.